CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA -- On 03/20/10 my wife purchased a computer from Office Max, Cape Coral Fl. Store #647. We spoke to the store employee whom we asked 4 separate times if this laptop will work with DIAL UP. Salesperson stated "yes no problem" 4 times and stated "if you buy the protection program it will be protected no questions asked, free replacement." PC was taken home and this laptop would not function with wireless router, nor would it go online with the DIAL UP system we had.

We returned to the store and the complaint was made to the store salesman, then to the store manager. Both were irate to me and would not solve the problem. Employee told me to return the wireless router and while I was home getting the router he told my wife to call me on the telephone and tell me his manager told him HE MADE A MISTAKE and RETURN the Laptop, IT would not work with the wireless router on a dial-up system. I told him I will return the Laptop and he stated fine they will take it back and give me a credit on my bank account for $529.98, after the factory accepted the return via UPS, this was told to me from the salesman.

When I returned to the store the manager told me to call the factory and get the software reprogrammed to fit the dial-up system. Factory stated no way can it be reprogrammed. This was not what we purchased from them. The computer was returned and in fact they charged my wife $106.98 as a restocking fee for returning the computer.

The store lied to sell this computer to us, the salesman knew nothing of the capabilities of the laptop and the store manager was rude and lied to us. What we thought was a good deal turned out costing me over $106.98 plus accessories for this laptop they didn't give cash back they gave gift cards to keep every dime they could from us, $126.00 in gift cards which made us have to shop at Office Max still. In all the return cost us over $232.98 for a return. This store is located in Cape Coral Florida, Del Prado BLVD. I am so mad over this deal I am looking for a good lawyer to sue these idiots.

We went to their competitors, BEST BUY of Ft Myers and received a wonderful deal. But we still lost over $232.98 as a result of a salesman lying along with the store managers. I called the headquarters over this deal and they said they would look into it but they are liars also. No return calls or investigation over this deal with Office Max. I can't believe we were ripped off over this salesperson's poor knowledge and the managers backing of lies.

This is a warning to all shopping at Office Max, NO EXPERIENCED PEOPLE ON THE SALES FLOOR, NOTHING BUT QUOTAS AND ALL LIES WHEN YOU RETURN SOMETHING. It will cost you money to bring something back at no fault of your own. Do not give these people the time of day, they need to fold up like all of the Circuit City Stores did. I have all the paperwork to back my statements.

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Manager Called Me A Name 4 Times

By Matthew - 12/26/2008

SAGINAW, MICHIGAN -- On 11/21/2008, my mother bought me a really nice oversize photo printer for Christmas. The reason for wanting the printer, was my upcoming baby on the way. Well, a week before Christmas, we lost the baby at 4 1/2 months. On Christmas day, my mom gave me the printer and all the attachments and said she would understand if I wanted to return it, as my intentions were to take pictures of the baby. Mom gave me the receipt to return it ($444 total bought). When I walked into the store, the Counter guy, **, asked for my receipt. I gave it to him. He said, "OH, this was bought on a Debit card and I don't have that much money to give you, sorry."

I said, "Well, we got to do something," I can't just say okay and leave, it's over $400 were talking about. ** then said with a smirk, "oh, your past the 14 day return policy, I can only give you a gift card". I said very nicely, "There must be another option for holiday purchases?" ** said again with a smirk and a laugh, "Nope, Gift Card only." I said, "Can I talk to the..." He stopped me and while laughing said, "I am the manager". I said, "I wanted to talk to the store manager," he said he wasn't it, and he didn't know when he would be.

Seeing I was getting nowhere, I asked for the number to corporate. ** said, "eight hundred Office Max." At this point, another associate noticed ** getting rude and loud so he walked over. This associate was very nice, and was also **, but with a K. ** said, "sir, that number is actually 877, Office Max." As I was talking to the lady from corporate filing a complaint, ** was saying, "boy, you just screwed yourself, I'm not helping you at all now, you might as well leave." The lady from corporate couldn't believe the way he was talking to me. He continued to say, "Man, you're stupid."

After I finished my complaint with corporate, ** asked ** to go in the back and talk to him. They went in the back for a couple mins, when a female employee walked in (I think she was the actual shift manager). When ** noticed her walking in, he quickly asked for her to come to the back.

After a few more minutes, all 3 exited and approached me. ** said very nicely, "Sir, I'm very sorry for the way you were treated, and we certainly strive on our customer service, and we definitely don't want complaints to go to corporate, so we would like to refund you the money back on your debit card." I said "thank you very much."

** quickly and loudly said, "You don't have to be such an **". The female said, "**, that's enough!" ** then said, "What? He is an **." I said, "Sir, I've been nothing but calm, and never once cursed at you or anybody." ** said, "I don't' care, you're an ** and I'll say it again, you're an **!" ** was pretty much screaming this, which had caught the attention of all the other customers in the store.

The female stopped and said, "You need to go in the back now! and shut the door!" ** refused. The female demanded him to do it again. He finally went in the back. The female continued to tell me how sorry she was and that she was sending him home. ** and her both were very apologetic. After the transaction was complete, I called corporate back, and gave another complaint about the employee ** calling me an ** 4 times. They logged my complaint, which said would go to the district manager. Not sure if it will go anywhere, but who knows.

And just so they know, as soon as I got to work (a fortune 500 company), I emailed my entire experience to my entire division (400 people). I received over 150 emails back from my co-workers, stating thank you for the warning and they were going to refuse to shop at Office Max due to this as well as their return policy that they didn't know about.

It wasn't slander, just purely what happened. Most said they forwarded it to their friends and family. I will never shop there again and will continue to send that email to people and post my story to any website I can find that applies, until Office Max Corporate can make this right to me.

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Horrible Customer Service and Warranty

By myexperiences - 05/18/2011

This used to be a decent company, but anymore they just don't care or don't train anyone enough to get day to day problems fixed. I constantly have problems there anymore, and can't wait for the new Staples to open across the street from them next month.

Incident 1: 2 months ago, I go to OfficeMax in need of a replacement address stamp. Old one ran out of ink or whatever. I had bought it in this same store, and had it made while I shopped. After finding I couldn't order a replacement online for store pickup (to save time) I go to the store with the old stamper.

The girl there says they don't make them while you wait anymore, and it would be mailed to me in 14 days. I declined, and went back to the office because I know the website said they make them in store, but maybe I missed it saying just certain stores or something. Nope, ALL stores with OfficeMax Print centers do it. So I call customer service, and they confirm all print stores should, but to contact the individual store. No point, they just told me they didn't when I was there, right?

So I order one online to have it mailed to me. During the 5-7 days it took to get the stamp made (not 14 like I was told), I find out that store DID make them while you wait, and I've now lost a chance to use a 20% off in-store only coupon PLUS have to pay shipping for something I could have picked up when I was there. I contacted Customer Service telling them all this, and after about 5 emails back and forth, got ZERO discount. I also find out the stamp I was replacing had a lifetime warranty, and I shouldn't even have paid ANYTHING, but it was too late because I ordered the replacement and paid already! HELLO?

Incident 2: They had a promotion on paper last month. Buy $40 worth of case paper, get $25 back in MaxPerks (think limit 2 or 3 per customer). I buy 2 cases of Hammermill Brand @ $45 each. I go to the customer service register, and tell the girl I don't have my MaxPerks card, can they look it up by telephone number? She says yes (I already knew they could), and she looks it up and rings up my order. I had the strangest feeling it never happened, so I checked my MaxPerks account a few days later. Nothing there about this purchase. If I would have forgotten, OfficeMax would have screwed me out of like $50.

A related 'scam' to this is they dropped the price of their OfficeMax brand paper (and 1 or two others) to $39.99. One cent too little to get the rebate. Buying a single ream extra to get you over the $40 won't help you, it has to be CASES ONLY. You'll pay over $40 after taxes for a ream, but that doesn't count.

Incident 3: I bought an Engage cordless optical mouse from OfficeMax in the last week of Dec. Comes with a 1 year warranty. It broke in the first week of May. I call Customer Service to get a replacement, I get told to bring the mouse and the receipt to a store for replacement. I get to the store to find the one I bought is discontinued, and they have 1 that is like 95% identical, the only difference is that the little USB plug that goes behind the computer is now 1/2 an inch smaller than the old one (so they had to give it a new model number). The product is now $10 more expensive than I paid.

Their best offer? They'll refund me the old price and I can pay the new higher price! Where is that "under warranty"? Then the guy has the guts to tell me if I had paid $4 more for their extended warranty he would have made it an even switch. So I ask him why would I need an extended warranty when I'm just 4 months into the product's 1 year warranty? He refuses to budge, I take the broken mouse and leave. Additional consideration: The company that makes the mouse, Engage, IS OfficeMax. They just use the Engage name for this product line. It's THEIR product.

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Will Not Do Business With This Company Again

- 03/20/2011

For a while now I have been looking for a new replacement computer Chair. I saw a Guest chair I liked on Officemax.com. The Chair was $159. With tax, it came to $174. I purchased it. Next day on the website I see they have 15 percent off on all items. Was kind of disappointed I did not get in on that when I bought my chair.

I called Office Max and asked them if I could still get that 15 percent off. The CSR said sure but I would have to cancel that other chair. I said "thanks I will do that." I asked "have I been charged yet for that other Chair?" CSR said "only once the Chair ships," and it did not ship yet. I said thanks and went back to the site, canceled the chair and reordered it with the discount. Saved $26 bucks from the previous price total $148.

I go to check my account like I do everyday and I see I have two charges one for $174 and one for $148, I'm like 'whaaaat', I thought I canceled that other chair. I called back, asked Office Max why I was charged. They assured me it was just a hold. The 174 would be back into my account. I asked her if my cancel request went through for that chair she said it has to go through a special department and they don't always get the cancel request on time. She said still a chance the chair will be shipped out and I will get charged for both Chairs. I asked why didn't the other representative tell me this before I canceled, I would of just went through with the Purchase.

She told me she did not know he made a mistake. I told them can they expedite that request so I won't get charged and get my credit ASAP? The lady said she could not do that but if I get two packages I can call them and they will put a return back for that 174 one. I told her "That's unacceptable, I want to speak with a supervisor." Talked to the supervisor, she said she would make sure that cancel request goes through ASAP and I would get my credit.

Next day Office Max calls me and says the Cancel request did not go through, I will get two packages. Once I get it I can call them and they will take the other Chair back. I told them I don't want that other package, to send it back. She said she could not do that. I would be charged for two chairs and to just send the other one back. Once they get it, I would be credited. Grrrr fine, I didn't want to argue. I agreed.

Next day I get my two Chairs, I call Office Max to get the other Chair they put in the request. Week later they send a guy out to take the package. I guess I missed him because I had a notice on my door he came to my house. My mom is home all day and she said no one knocked on the door so I'm guessing he just put the notice and left. Called them back and a few days later, they sent back another guy to finally take back the package so I was stuck with that package for a week.

Tried putting the other Chair together, the parts would not go in evenly. Was advised to go to an OfficeMax store or call an installer and pay 50 bucks for them to install the chair. Took it to Office Max store, they could not put it together. They said the cushion is defective and that I need to send it back. I asked them "can your store take it back for me?" They declined because they do not carry that kind of brand product. I would need to take it apart and ship it back to Office Max.

So for now I'm stuck with a $150 defective chair. I'm in touch with the manufacturer to send me out a new cushion, see what good that does but this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth. Won't do business with Office Max again.

UPDATE: OfficeMax said they will pick up the Chair as is, then they will issue my refund. Once I receive credit for both chairs I will update this review and mark the complaint as resolved. UPDATE: Now someone called me and said they won't take it back as is. I need to take it apart and send it to them. WTF. They keep giving me false info and backtracking.

UPDATE: Now they said the 14 days are up, I can't send it back to them at all. I need to take it up with the manufacturer. They will send me out a 20 dollar gift card and give me 10 percent back from my order. Update: I got my money refunded by Office Max, thank you to the BBB for helping me out. And thank you Office Max for refunding my money. This complaint is now resolved.

Resolution Update 05/02/2011:

Office max refunded my money thanks to the BBB.

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I'm begging out, AVOID Max Assurance.

By Calimarie - 09/28/2009

Wow reading that was like having a flashback of my experience with Max Assurance. I purchased a laptop from Office Max and the extended warranty and was told by the attendant if I had a problem walking out of the store that day and dropping the thing they would take it in no questions asked.

Eight months later I tried to turn the computer on and I only got a blank black screen. No bios symbol, no start-up, nothing at all. Only the power symbol was lit and it was showing the computer had power to it. I took it into the store and the attendant was very helpful and sent the computer out for me to Max Assurance, or whatever company they used to do the repairs, but for short I'll just use MA.

So MA calls two weeks later and tells me they are not allowed to fix the computer because it is still under the manufacturers warranty and they are not authorized to repair it. They did however tell me it was a faulty motherboard so they had enough authority to identify the problem but not to fix it. I'm not going to say the manufacturer because I don't believe they are at fault. MA said they couldn't even send it to the manufacturer for repair and that I had to do it myself. I did and they repaired it without a fuss.

Not the end of the story. Another six months pass and the exact same problem happens! This time I KNOW the laptop is past the one year warranty by the manufacturer. So I call MA to start the process again and they claim I'm still under the manufacturer warranty. Luckily I'm looking at the receipt and am CLEARLY past the one year mark, but the person I talked to said she couldn't do anything for me so I hung up.

I called the actual Office Max store, and they again were very helpful, the store attendant set up a conference call between the manufacturer, MA, the attendant, and myself. We finally got everything straightened out and MA finally sent me out a label to get it sent out again. Two weeks later I got a call saying it was another faulty motherboard... they replaced it a second time and sent it back.

When I got it back I noticed several of the keys didn't work. This time I knew better than to try to call MA, I called the store again and I really can't explain how great they were but again the attendant got MA to send a label out for another repair. Two weeks later a call, and I bet you can guess the problem... and the answer is faulty motherboard surprise surprise, so they replaced it a third time. This time however they also replaced my hard drive so I lost all of my information, including documents, programs, pictures, music, etc.

I just got the laptop back two weeks ago and it works fine as far as I can tell. I'm actually just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course this story in the condensed version. All of the phone services are automated so as soon as I called any of these companies and entered in my serial number for the laptop their machine told me I was out of warranty and disconnected my call immediately. So there was a ton of calls I didn't mention but there it is. My horrible experience with Max Assurance.

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Bogus Computer Repair

By Seattleherbs - 07/19/2012

Rating: 1/51

FEDERAL WAY, WASHINGTON -- My computer cannot open the file from the shortcut on the desktop screen. I ran the antivirus program and found no virus, so I bring my computer to OfficeMax since I have the free system screen coupon. ** the tech guy over there was nice and told me that he need to get the system diagnostic and fix for $120s. And he said if it not fixed, I will get a refund so there are no risk for me. I left the computer with him overnight.

He called me the next day and said that my computer was fixed. So I pick it up and bring back home. Now it's worst, not only it wasn't fixed but my other programs were wipe out (my calculator on my window, my photoshop, etc.) and my CD/DVD drive is not working also (It work fine before I brought my computer in). So I try to download the driver from the Dell support site. It can't be installed too. Plus, when I ran the antivirus program, I found 2 viruses in my computer. I got them deleted then I bring the computer back to OfficeMax, they kept it again overnight.

I came back to them 2 days after and they told me that it can't be fixed! So I asked for the refund per promised. The tech guy told me that I have to come on Thursday 19th to get the manager to approve the refund. I came back and the assistant manager told me that "NO WAY" point blank.

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Terrible Customer Service

By KWK - 03/29/2009

MISHAWAKA, INDIANA -- Two Fridays ago I purchased four $100 Visa Gift Cards from store #38 in Mishawaka, IN. I paid for them and got activation receipts claiming the cards would be ready to use within 24 hours. I left the store feeling satisfied with my purchase. However, when I went to use one of the cards 2 full days later, the card rang up as denied. So I call the number on the back of the Visa card and when I entered the card number, it said the cards status is unknown and I got transferred to someone to talk to. The person on the line told me that there was never any money loaded onto the card. I asked him to check the status of the other 3 cards I had and they all came back the same.

So the next day I went back to the store I purchased them from thinking this would be a quick fix since I had the sales receipt showing that I paid for these cards, and Visa told me there was no money loaded onto them. I was very wrong. After two and half hours in the store talking to the manager and various people whom he told me I needed to contact, still nothing was resolved.

The manager gave me the number for Blackhawk, the company who processes gift cards. The person I contacted there said the cards did not show up as activated in their system. Then I called OfficeMax customer service and told them the whole story and gave them the reference numbers and names of people I contacted at Visa and Blackhawk. I was told the information would be forwarded on to the District Manager, and that I would be contacted on Tuesday. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him until Thursday afternoon to call, and still heard nothing.

Nine days since I bought the cards and I am still in the same situation I was at the beginning, trying to get my money from OfficeMax and getting no cooperation from them in any way. I tried to get the manager at the store to sit with me and contact Visa and Blackhawk together, just so I know that OfficeMax knows what V & B are telling me.

Because at this point, I'm still not sure they understand it, regardless of how many times I have told this to different people affiliated with the company. I have sales and activation receipts for the specific cards in question, coupled with Visa and Blackhawk stating the cards were not paid for from OfficeMax, thus not being activated. Why is this so difficult to fix?

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Employment

By Bob_squared - 12/30/2008

As someone who works at OfficeMax as an associate I can tell you they are a horrible company. I was told that since I have a very high knowledge of computers and technology in general, I'd be on the sales floor to assist people and help them figure out what would best meet their needs. Well it's been quite a long time that I've worked there and I have never left the register as promised. The people I work with don't answer when you need help or need an item to be pulled so I am left to tell the customer I can't help them until someone answers. I was declined the position of tech specialist because I lacked experience.

So instead of hiring myself or someone with comparable technology knowledge, they hire a woman who previously worked at a pet store and has no knowledge at all of any technology. It's pathetic. Would you rather have someone who is younger but knows what he's talking about when it comes to selling a product? Or a woman who knows absolutely nothing about tech and will call for help literally every time a customer approaches her. The company hates their employees. We get a whopping 5% discount. Big deal. Customers come in every day with coupons that save more than we can save for working there.

They also will sell you a "MaxAssurance" on anything electronic. We are told to sell them at all costs. If I don't meet the quota I am brought in and disciplined. Something about being disciplined by a 45-year-old deadbeat high school dropout manager annoys me. It is not my fault a customer doesn't want a crappy service in the first place. All in all stay away from Office Max and never, ever work there. They're a horrible company who hates they're employees and customers alike.

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Return Policy Not Honored

By gopeachy - 02/24/2008

I ordered a computer cabinet online from OfficeMax on 2/16. The cabinet came in two colors and I decided to exchange it for the other one. On 2/24, I called my local store to confirm that it was in stock as their policy states: "Products that are purchased online may be returned to an OfficeMax store location for a credit refund. Products may be exchanged if the originally purchased product is in stock at that store location."

My local store refused to accept an exchange saying they do not deal with online purchases. This was after my stating their policy and asking them to look at for themselves. (I took names before I left). A call to CS (**) said that stores have discretion at returning/exchanging online purchases. ** supervisor said that the policy contains the word 'may' (I have a Master's degree and I know the context of how the word is used in their policy and it is NOT as a contingent).

A second 31-minute call to CS, **, resulted in her trying to call a second store to see if they would exchange it for me. The store would not because it is a 'clearance' piece (Lodged a formal complaint through her and requested follow up. Also began return process for the piece). The piece I ordered was not listed as clearance either at my store as I viewed the piece on 2/16 at the store before purchasing online.

The website does NOT have it listed in their clearance section or on clearance at the product page itself. The piece is not considered 'Max choice' furniture, has not been opened, is not beyond 30 days of purchase. Their website policy has nothing on it about clearance merchandise or stores being able to have discretion about purchasing. BUYER BEWARE that OfficeMax does NOT stand behind their own stated return policy.

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CTRLCenter a joke

By danette - 10/02/2011

I recently bought a brand new Toshiba laptop and I knew I needed a good antivirus software. After talking with them about what would work best for me, it was highly recommended I purchase CTRLCenter PC Protection which uses McAfee and provides me with tech support 24/7. I also purchased the extended warranty and I really liked the idea of having access to a PC tech 24/7 to help resolve any issues that might arise. Well, issues arose after only one week!! I set it up just like I was told prior to going online.

One week later the first call was because I kept getting these strange pop-ups that were not allowing me to do anything. 2 hours later, after they accessed my PC they supposedly removed it the virus I was told all was safe. The tech told me I had a pretty extensive malware bug and he finally was able to isolate it and remove it. The very next day, my touchpad stopped scrolling. I called again and they accessed my PC again and something then happened to IE. They said I needed to call Microsoft who in turn said I needed to call Toshiba. I called Toshiba and they walked me through a few steps and it was working again, or so I thought.

On day 3 I had trouble yet again with IE and now with Google Chrome. Anytime I typed in a website, I was taken to another strange site. I was at my wits end. I called CTRLCenter tech again and after 7 hours of working on it I was told that IE was shot and I needed to follow this long list of steps when going to any website because whatever virus I had messed everything up.

My issue is I spent $129.99 for this protection and less than 2 weeks later was infected and it totally messed up my PC. Thankfully, Office Max did take it back and I got another laptop. This HP comes with Norton for days, and after that I am not sure which one I am going to use. Norton seems great so far, but I am extremely paranoid right now about any website. I will not be using CTRLCenter anymore and I think I will be trying to get my money back for that.